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Exploring Informal and Colloquial Language Through Netflix's Derry Girls

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Exploring Informal and Colloquial Language Through Netflix's Derry Girls Exploring informal and colloquial language through Netflix’s Derry Girls. Bàrbara Pilar Serra Ballester Master’s Thesis Master’s Degree in Teacher Training (With a speciality in English and German) at the UNIVERSITAT DE LES ILLES BALEARS Academic year 2018-2019 Date: June 2019 UIB Master’s Thesis Supervisor: Dra. Yolanda Joy Calvo Benzies Abstract The presence of colloquial and informal language is rather neglected in today’s EFL classrooms. The following study aims to demonstrate that this vocabulary, part of a genuine, real-world English, can be incorporated into the lesson in a unique way; by using authentic audio-visual materials like television sitcoms. For this dissertation, several fields have been explored in depth, such as the value of those genuine products as a teaching tool, that goes hand in hand with students’ motivation, the relevance of the cultural competence and further aspects like the purpose of working with informal and colloquial word-forms, the irrefutable role of captions and an analysis of the incidental vocabulary acquisition phenomenon in the language learning experience. Moreover, this MA dissertation includes an empirical study conducted with 4th of ESO students which aimed at analysing whether using the Northern Irish TV show Derry Girls is a beneficial tool to gain new vocabulary like idioms and phrasal verbs. The results obtained indicate that students were more motivated when learning English this way; moreover, it in fact helped most of them learn new vocabulary. Keywords: informal language, colloquial language, EFL, TV sitcom, Derry Girls. 2 Table of Contents Abstract ............................................................................................................. 2 1. Introduction ................................................................................................. 4 2. Literature review ......................................................................................... 6 2.1 Northern Ireland and Derry, a frame......................................................... 7 2.2 The use of audio-visual materials as a language teaching tool .............. 11 2.2.1 Authentic audio-visual products ....................................................... 15 2.2.2 Fostering the cultural competence ................................................... 18 2.2.3 Students’ motivation and interests ................................................... 21 2.3 Informal and colloquial language ............................................................ 23 2.3.1 The role of subtitles on vocabulary acquisition ................................. 27 2.3.2 Incidental vocabulary acquisition ..................................................... 30 3. The study .................................................................................................... 33 3.1 Context .................................................................................................. 33 3.2 Design and procedure ............................................................................ 34 3.3 Participants ............................................................................................ 35 3.4 Materials and data collection .................................................................. 36 3.4.1 Derry Girls ........................................................................................... 37 3.4.2 Background test ............................................................................... 38 3.4.3 Pre-test ............................................................................................ 39 3.4.4 Post-test .......................................................................................... 40 3.4.5 Activities .......................................................................................... 40 3.5 Results and analysis .............................................................................. 41 3.5.1 Background questionnaire analysis.................................................. 42 3.5.2 Pre-test analysis .............................................................................. 44 3.5.3 Post-test analysis ............................................................................. 45 3.5.4 Pre-test and post-test analysis ......................................................... 45 4. Conclusion .................................................................................................. 46 5. Didactic proposal......................................................................................... 46 6. References.................................................................................................. 52 7. Appendices ................................................................................................. 60 3 1. Introduction Studying colloquial and informal English language through television series in a classroom setting is quite an unexplored field; however, it has gained certain popularity in the last decade, especially within the world of education. This recent interest is clearly related to two cultural aspects. Firstly, access to TV shows is easier now than in the past, thanks to streaming services such as Netflix or platforms like YouTube. Secondly, we are living in the second golden age of television, where series have a massive impact on popular culture and are commented in diverse social media platforms. Moreover, these shows provide a wide range of options to work with different language skills, so they can perfectly be integrated as a tool for the teaching of English as a Foreign Language (EFL). Since it is evident that television shows have a real presence and impact on our daily lives, teachers should considerate using them to teach language. As our students are constantly watching TV and are first-class consumers of audio-visual materials outside the school, using shows inside the classroom can be taken as an excellent tool to practice and learn authentic English colloquial and informal vocabulary (Frumuselu, 2015; Bradford, 2010). Traditionally, EFL teachers have used audio-visual resources for different purposes. However, the approach is usually shallow and mundane, scratching only the surface of what a media product could provide. Some teachers profit from the use of films, for instance, on special occasions (such as Christmas or Halloween) or even as time-fillers. The problem with that usage is that the focus is often on the movie’s own content rather than on its language components or peculiarities. Therefore, a different approach to the use of authentic audio-visual materials in the classroom is needed to focus on its unique language input. This shift in vision implies an innovative approach to the learning and teaching of a foreign language by adapting the classroom to the students’ reality. Luckily, nowadays, there is a huge range of sitcoms to deal with, from the regular comedy to a more dramatic show with different perspectives. In general, these TV shows provide us with a feasible and believable world, filled with 4 situations that mimic real life. Thus, a perfect scenery is set, creating a fictional space where learners can see themselves and their stories reflected on the screen. So, by bringing real materials into the classroom, the teacher makes the learning experience significant as well as motivational for students. The present proposal introduces a different perspective on the use of TV shows in the classroom. Bearing in mind that these materials provide real situations, they also provide real language that must be accounted for. The value of authenticity of these products relies on the fact that they are made by and addressed to native speakers, so they are not a manufactured product created for students with didactic purpose. By bringing real-life language into the classroom, students will be exposed to a wide variety of accents, intonations, dialects and more shades of real-life English. After all, this can only be beneficial for the learner since it is about integrating the reality of the language in the class. So, the main focus of this study will be to test if students are able to acquire informal and colloquial vocabulary by watching a Northern Irish TV sitcom, created by Lisa McGee, Derry Girls. As its name indicates, Derry Girls is set in Derry (officially Londonderry) during the 90s and it explores a group of teenage girls navigating through their daily life. This show has been chosen, on one hand, because it is recent (it premiered in 2018) and most students will be unfamiliar with it, and, on the other, because it represents a perfect example of a real context with authentic language, full of informal and colloquial expressions and a colourful vocabulary. Moreover, the language is one of the shows’ most notable features due to the Irish accent and the Derry dialect, Ulster English, that is quite distinctive from what students are used to hearing in the classroom. Thus, it is expected that the participants on this study, a group of 4th year of Obligatory Secondary Education students (ESO in Spain), will feel identified with the characters’ attitudes and the real-life based situations that the sitcom explores in a comedic tone. Another benefit that Derry Girls provides for the classroom is the perspective of Northern Ireland's’ culture and history, that goes hand in hand with authenticity of the language. This can be observed throughout the different episodes, as well as in the characters’ personality and their lifestyle. So, the 5 amount of socio-cultural values the
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